Oh, and MaceMan, if you’ll notice, either Chip or Reichen (can’t remember which right now) was the one to start with the “he was beaten by the gay guy, can’t let the gay guy beat you” stuff; Jon was only following up on it. He just likes to annoy people, which he and Kelly admitted was part of their racing stragety, and that was one of the many buttons Chip and Reichen presented for him to push with regularity. Frankly, under the circumstances, I suspect I would have done the same thing!
Oh c’mon. Being a “Gay married couple” is the schtick that got them on the show. Of course they’re going to talk about it and the producers are going to include it in the voiceovers. Big deal.
At what point did Chip and Reichen let on that they were gay? I was under the impression that they didn’t really announce this until more than halfway through the race, in which case their we-did-this-to-show-we-can-do-anything-straight-people-can routine is bogus. If they made it clear from the beginning, fine, but it’s pretty weaselly to claim you’re doing something for a cause only after you know you’re succeeding at it.
Those of us watching it on tv were aware of Chip and Reichen’s sexuality right from the beginning but they decided not to let the other racers know about it until relatively late in the race. I seem to remember an interview with them in the first episode where the discussed being uncertain of whether or not to tell the other racers because they were afraid of the reaction. However, from what I’ve read everybody figured it out within about 5 seconds of meeting them, hence the extreme lack of shock when they made the big announcement on their anniversary (which I thought was sweet, by the way).
Yes, they definitely annoyed me at times during the race, but I don’t get the hatred a number of people have expressed. I would’ve been happy with any of the three remaining teams winning, and I will say that the ending was very fitting, with it coming down to a race between Chip and Reichen and Jon and Kelly, since that was the main rivalry for the latter part of the race, and with David and Jeff lost, since that’s how they spent much of the race. Of course, maybe I jinxed David and Jeff with my post earlier in this thread, when I predicted that they would win as long as they didn’t get lost.
Right, upon some reflection, I do agree that the “see? being gay isn’t a handicap!” thing was annoying (if not a bit dangerous). That said, I can see why C&R would bring it up a lot in their chats with the producers (confessionals? whatever). We were shown what was edited and pieced together. Who’s to say that it wasn’t the others who started the “you’re letting yourself be beat by a gay guy” crap?
Anyway, C&R are a bit too vanilla for my tastes.
Yeah, Chip and Reichen talked about being gay a lot, and Monica and Sheree talked about being NFL Wives a lot, and (in the beginning) Jon and Al talked about being circus clowns a lot, and sheesh, did Kelly (and Jon) talk about her being the only woman left in the race a lot near the end.
People, it’s the editing. Reichen and Chip could have talked about some topic unrelated to being gay for 20 minutes, and then the producers could have asked them “do you see yourselves as role models to other gay people, or at least think that your Amazing Race win will send some sort of a message?” and just used their answer to that as the voiceover played at the end.
Heh. Of course, it’s also possible that being gay IS all they talked about ever. My point (and scott evil’s, I’m guessing) is that all we’re shown is the editing. Perhaps the producers and editors assumed that not everyone has been watching this whole time, and wanted to drive home a few points–e.g. Monica and Sherree are married to NFL players, John and Al are circus clowns, etc. every episode.
Yes, in all fairness, I do think a lot of their talking about being gay, especially in the voiceovers, was in response to questions we didn’t hear. But that being said, no matter how often they talked about it, its irrelevance to the race in terms of it being a handicap was what was so obnoxious to a lot of us. I mean, if they were trying to run the race with an artificial leg or as a cancer survivor, that might well be something that would be worth bringing up as a potential handicap they overcame. But being two young, strong, healthy gay guys? Nope, they’re no more handicapped than Jenna on Survivor 6 was by being so “beautiful.” (If by “beautiful” you mean "having large silicone breasts.)
And also in all fairness to them, except for their singular humorlessness in running the race – hey, guys, at least act like you’re enjoying yourselves occasionally! – they really did run a remarkably smart and flawless last leg, except for Chip’s driving spinout, of course.
And why did Reichen keep letting Chip drive? My guess is that no matter how bad Chip’s driving is, his back-seat driving would be even worse!!
I wondered about that. Reichen must be a really, really bad driver. Reichen said he felt safer sitting there about to be tossed out of an airplane than sitting in the back seat with Chip at the wheel. How awful must Reichen’s driving be? Maybe Reichen doesn’t even have a valid driver’s license?
I suspect Mama Tiger’s right and Chip’s a really, really, really bad back-seat driver. After all, all of the moments Chip looked closest to exploding were in taxis, when someone else was driving, not to mention the ugly incident with the taxi driver in Korea. I’d bet that if Reichen did any of the driving, Chip would be so obnoxious that within five minutes Reichen would pull over and say “Fine, you drive.”